MINSK - Belarus imported
6.5275 million tonnes of petroleum products in January-June 2012, up
230% year-on-year, the Belarusian National Statistics Committee
(Belstat) said in its materials.

Belstat said that almost all petroleum imports to Belarus came from
CIS countries (6.513 million tonnes, including Russia - 6.509 million
tonnes (up 240%).

The average contract price for petroleum products went down by 7.5% to $591 per tonne in January-June 2012.

According to Belstat's materials, Belarus exported 9.81 million
tonnes of petroleum products in January-June 2012, up 40.2%
year-on-year. For instance, exports to CIS countries totaled 2.331
million tonnes of petroleum products (up 80%). Exports to non-CIS
countries grew by 30.5% to 7.4787 million tonnes.

In the first half, Belarus imported 11.2298 million tonnes of crude
oil (up 19.1%). At the same time, practically all crude imports came
from Russia, which imported 10.8995 million tonnes (up 27.6%). Oil
supply from Venezuela decreased by 62.6% to 330,300 tonnes.

Average contract prices for oil imports in the first half came to $404 per tonne, down 16.8% year-on-year.

The country exported 821,000 tonnes of domestic crude production in
the first half (down 1.4%). At the same time, the average contract price
for exports rose by 0.4% to $790 per tonne. All Belarusian crude
exports went to non-CIS countries.

Belarus also imported 10.4 billion cubic meters of gas (down 1.2%) in
January-June. The average contract price for import came to $168 per
1,000 cubic meters (down 28.8%). All gas imports came from Russia.

The country also imported 3.775 billion KW hours of electricity (up
56.9%). All imports came from CIS countries, Ukraine and Russia. The
average contract price for export rose by 2.5% to $63 per 1,000 KW
hours.

Belstat also said that exports of energy products in value terms came
to $9.2216 billion in the first half, up 44.6%. At the same time,
imports of energy products went up by 22.3% to $10.459 billion. Belarus'
foreign trade with energy products posted a deficit of $1.238 billion
for the first half of this year compared to the deficit of $2.2 billion
for the same period of 2011.

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